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thirds, which identify a subject’s name on the lower- third of the screen. Typical uses for multiple layers of audio elements are to add sound effects and music tracks to dialogue tracks.

Effects

With the video elements trimmed and arranged, you might want to add some visual effects. These can in- clude transitions between shots, rather than straight cuts, such as fades, dissolves, or wipes. Effects can also include filters that change brightness, contrast, and color. Other effects blur and distort video clips, or alter the original footage in all kinds of ways. Most software programs have an “Effects” menu under the “Window” or similar command. Caveat editor: just be- cause your software allows you to add effects doesn’t mean that you should. If your story is strong, your shots are good, and your audio is clean, you can com- municate your message effectively—and even better— without effects. Use them cautiously, only when they truly contribute to the message. Consider the wisdom of Huell Howser, the producer and talent of a popular travel show in California, who states that whenever he sees lots of fancy effects he assumes the producer is covering for the story that’s missing.

Mix

With the audio elements trimmed and arranged, you might want to make some changes to the aural clips. To mix them, you simply stack them on multiple lay- ers. (See Figure 7-4). You want to balance the various audio clips so that the most important element—usu- ally the dialogue—can be heard easily (foreground), with the other elements—usually sound effects and music—at a lower level (background). This is the same

figure-ground principle used in composing visual im- ages (Chapter 4); with audio, it is the primary sound and not the picture element that is the “figure” and re- ceives foreground attention, while the other contex- tual audio elements are in the background. To adjust the audio levels, most software provides nodes (rubber bands, whatever) with which you can pull the audio level up or down. Typically, you place the cursor over

the line in the middle of an audio clip, changing the cursor to a pointing finger, allowing you to click to create a node. Drag up for increased volume and down for decreased volume.

You might want to add some audio effects, such as

fades and cross-fades, allowing the audio to come in or go out gradually rather than harshly. Other effects allow you to add echo or reverberation. High-pass

andlow-pass filters allow you to reduce frequencies at the low and high ends, perhaps to make a voice sound hollower and less resolute, as if it were coming through a telephone. Notch filters let you reduce a certain range, or notch, of frequencies, such as a 60 Hz electri- cal hum that might have been recorded inadvertently with the dialogue, or cut down room tone if the mi- crophone was too far away from the subject. Paramet- ric and other equalizers allow you to manipulate fre- quencies even more, such as boosting or lowering bass or treble frequencies in a musical recording.

Render

To see visual effects and to hear audio effects, you must

render them by instructing the computer to create a new file with those effects. Unless a new file is created, the software can only play back the footage from the original file, which does not have the effects. Many ed- itors render short effects as they work so they can double-check how they look or sound. For example, most computers can render a one-second fade or dis- solve relatively quickly, or even show a common fade or dissolve in realtime without rendering. For longer effects, such as adding a sepia tone to a one-hour west- ern to give it an old-world look, the editor often waits until the end of the day, saves everything in case the computer crashes, and then selects the “Render” or “Export” or similar command just before leaving, al- lowing the computer to render this large effect through the night.

However often you render or do not render, when the final project is complete on the timeline, you will likely want to render the final piece. Most software can play back the production from the timeline and even print it onto videotape from there. However, if the playback magnet or laser has to skip from one sector or drive to another sector or drive, that skip can appear as

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a glitch on the video. Is it best to render, or export, the entire project into a single file. That way, when printing to video, mastering to CD or DVD, or copying to an- other drive or solid-state medium, the playback magnet or laser only needs to read one file continuously.

Distribute

Once your final project is rendered, the last step in the postproduction process is to make it available for dis- tribution so people can see it. A number of options are available. You need to consider cost, technology avail- able to you, ease of accomplishing your final project format, playback technology available to your target audience, and other factors in deciding the best way or ways to finish your production for distribution.

Outputting to Tape One distribution option is to

print or export your project to videotape. Most soft-

ware programs have a “Print to Tape” or similar func- tion—usually under the “File” menu—that lets you set things up, including a leader sequence (color bars, tone, slate, countdown), and then start a videotape re- corder (VCR) or camcorder, which is connected to the computer, to record the project.

Authoring a Disc You might also create a compact

disc–read only memory (CD-ROM) or a digital ver- satile disc (DVD) with your production. (See Figure 7-5.) Using the disc authoring software on your com- puter, you can burn your video project file onto a disc, perhaps setting up the disc to start playing by itself (autorun) or even to display a menu with chapters and other selections for your viewers.

Posting on the Internet The Internet offers a poten-

tial medium for distributing your project. Using the Web page creation software on your computer, you can create a homepage for your project, from which you can create a link to the video. Then e-mail the link

Figure 7-4 A screenshot from Soundtrack Pro. Multiple audio layers are stacked; the tracks of the stereo clip being edited are on top and have been expanded to show the waveform; and the nodes on the tracks below show the balance—when the level of each track is brought up or down. (Courtesy of Apple)

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